Walgreens will offer a selection of fresh food at the drugstore it is building at East 35th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, helping bring relief to a neighborhood that Denver officials have identified as a “food desert.”

Councilman Albus Brooks said that area of northeast Denver has only one grocery store to serve 55,000 residents. That stretch of Colorado is lined with fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations — but no grocery stores.

The campaign is in conjunction with the efforts of first lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America to fight childhood obesity and provide better food options and accessible health care to underserved communities.

“With more than 45 percent of our stores located in areas that don’t have access to fresh food, Walgreens is uniquely positioned to bring more food options to Americans and also provide needed pharmacy, health and wellness services directly to those communities,” said Walgreen president and chief executive Greg Wasson.

Elfinger said such stores will offer “an expanded food selection, including more fresh fruit and vegetables and more refrigerated and frozen foods than you’d see in a typical Walgreens.”

Chicago-based Walgreen started the program in the Windy City in 2010, bringing fresh food to 10 existing drugstores. Food-oasis locations have expanded to Indianapolis and the San Francisco Bay Area.

“From high obesity rates to chronic health problems, food deserts have serious consequences on our neighborhoods,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said. “I applaud Walgreens for opening a food market on 35th and Colorado and helping us change that dynamic for the residents of northeast Park Hill and Clayton.”

Brooks said eradication of the northeast Denver food desert is an issue of justice and equity, not just health.

“Statistically, my 5-year-old son has a shorter life expectancy than his friends who live south of Colfax, simply because of the access to healthy, affordable food,” Brooks said. “This will be the first Walgreens with a fresh produce market in the entire Rocky Mountain region, and I’m excited to be one of the first people to shop there.”

Richard Sapkin, managing principal of Denver-based Edgemark Development, said the project will cost “over $5 million.” A groundbreaking ceremony was held last week, and the 13,422-square-foot store is expected to open in July.

The project will involve the demolition of an old Denver police station that most recently was home to Bethsaida Temple Christian Center.

“This is an area that we knew was a void in the market,” said Sapkin, whose firm has built nearly 30 Walgreens stores, most of them in Colorado.

More in Business

When a friend shared a Facebook post with Michelle Burris inviting her to protest in downtown Washington, D.C., last Saturday, she knew she had to go. So she bought a Black Lives Matter mask from a street vendor before marching the streets of the district with a “No Justice, No Peace” sign.